Into the Void
by PygmyCritter
Summary: While tracking down an alien, Jack is sucked into a void.
1. Chapter 1

The large scaly thing ran, dragging one leg as it went. A trail of bluish blood let Jack know where it was heading. Ianto had been able to just graze the thing as it ran for the sewers. They'd been worried about weevils, but as of yet, they had been lucky. None to be seen which worried Jack as he slowed his pace, hearing the thing panting and groaning in pain.

He looked around the corner and saw the thing staring at a wall. Great, he thought, he had it at a dead end.

"Jack?" Gwen's voice crackled. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the northeast corner." he whispered back. "I've got it cornered. Be quiet if any of you head this way."

Ianto and Tosh slowly made their way to the northeast corner, trying to be quiet per Jack's orders. The sludge on the ground in spots made that a bit difficult, especially when Tosh nearly slipped in the muck. Luckily for her, Ianto had been able to throw out an arm to keep her from falling.

"I'm going to finish him off." Jack informed the others.

"Wait until we're all up there." Owen said.

"Don't do anything stupid." Ianto warned.

"Would I ever?" Jack replied with a laugh.

"Jack." Ianto said in a tone of voice that Jack knew all too well. Don't be stupid, and be careful was its translation.

Jack stepped out from his hiding spot just as the wall in front of the thing seemed to open up into a swirling void.

"Stay back!" Jack ordered the others.

"What's going on?" Gwen asked.

"Just stay back." he repeated.

"We're up in the same corner." Tosh said. "If you need help..."

"Stay back." he repeated yet again.

The thing turned around and looked at Jack, it smiled showing multiple rows of sharp teeth, drool dripping from the corners of its hideous mouth. Jack fired, knocking the thing back a bit. He took a firm stance, getting ready to fire again when the void seemed to start spinning, creating a near vacuum effect in the small area.

"Jack?" Ianto's panicked voice called out.

"Stay!" Jack replied, yelling over the growing whir of the increasingly faster spinning of the void.

"Jack!" all of them cried out at once as they rushed towards the sound.

Jack fell to the ground as the force become stronger. His fingers tried in a futile attempt to dig into the slimy ground, but it was no use. The void was pulling him in after the thing he had just been hunting.

"Oh my God!" Gwen cried as she and the others rounded the corner.

"Stay there!" Jack called out as he tried to dig his fingers in, his nails breaking and becoming bloody as he did so.

"Jack!" Ianto called, moving to try to help him.

"Ianto, no!" Owen said, grabbing the other man and holding him back.

"I'm going to try to find something to throw to him." Tosh said, desperate for a way to help. She couldn't stand the idea of just watching as Jack inched closer and closer to the whirling void.

Ianto's stomach was flopping all over the place as he watched helplessly. Jack was only inches from being dragged in and Gwen and Owen were holding him back, not letting go to help him.

"Tosh?" Gwen called.

"I can't find anything." she called back as she wiped the tears from her face. She felt helpless and she hated that feeling. All of them did.

Ianto struggled against the arms restraining him and finally broke free, sending Gwen tumbling to the ground as he raced towards Jack, Owen right behind him.

"Jack!" Ianto called, throwing his hands out in an attempt to reach him.

Jack stretched out as much as he could, just barely reaching both Ianto and Owen's outstretched hands and holding on as tight as he could given the limited contact he had with both men's hands. He clutched to their fingers as tightly as he could, but it was no use. With one final struggle to hold onto them, his hands, covered in sludge as they were, became to slick coupled with the sweat that began to cover him in his fight. With one last look to Ianto, his hands slipped from theirs and he was sucked into the void.

"No!" Ianto cried as he got to his feet, running to the void that was disappearing just as quickly as it had appeared.

"Ianto." Gwen said, tears streaming down her face as she walked up behind him, watching the void shrink down to a pin prick as they all sat panting and crying.

"No." Ianto shook his head. "We need to figure out a way to get him out of there."

"We don't know what it is." Owen pointed out. "We don't know where it goes."

"Then we'll find out!" he bellowed. "Let's get back to the hub."

They all watced in surprise he left them all with only one quick glance over his shoulder at the wall were he'd seen Jack disappear.

"We're going to get him back." he said before leaving them all to hurry after him.

* * *

Faith sat in one of the office chairs and spun around in total boredom. Jack had asked her to come by to try to speak to an alien they had captured, and he was apparently running late.

"Finally." she said as she got up when she heard the door open. "If you tell someone to meet you at a certain time, the least you could do is..." her voiced trailed off when she saw the group walk in, covered in sweat and slime and wreaking of the sewers. Jack was not with them. "What happened?"

"Tosh, get on the computer, see if you can find any rift activity." Ianto said in an authoritative tone.

Faith watched as he barked out orders to Gwen and Owen as well before turning to her. He didn't say a word. He just looked at her for a minute and then turned and headed to Jack's office.

"What happened?" Faith asked again.

"There was some sort of void." Owen said. "Jack was sucked in."

"Oh no." she whispered. "What can I do?"

"I can't think of anything." he answered. "Can't think of anything any of us cn do. We don't know anything about that damned thing."

"I'll go see if Ianto has anything for me." she said, turning and heading for the stairs.

She walked up the stairs and looked down at the others. Each of them worked in silence, none of them wanting to really talk about what happened. None of them wanting to believe Jack was truly gone. She stopped and knocked on the door but got no response. She thought a moment, and then slowly opened the door to find Ianto sitting behind Jack's desk, holding Jack's greatcoat.

"He can't be really gone." he said as she shut the door behind her.

"Ianto, do you have any idea how to find him?" she asked as she moved around and knelt next to the chair, holding his free hand.

"No, but I will figure it out." he said, looking at her with bloodshot eyes.

"What can I do to help?" she asked, taking a tissue from her pocket and handing it to him.

"You think we can find him?" he asked, hope evident in his voice.

"We can at least try." she said, smiling reassuringly. "Just tell me what you need and I'll do my best."

"Thank you." he said as he put the coat down. "I know how you feel about him."

"I maybe a bit jealous of him at times, yes." she nodded. "But, I love you and you want to find him."

He gave Faith a description of the thing and asked if it sounded familiar at all.

"Vaguely." she said. "I'm trying to think of any aliens that travel by void."

"You know of some that might?" he asked.

"I know there are a few, but I can't remember which right now, or what they look like."

"Think, Faith, think." he urged.

"I have a book at home." she said, standing up.

"A book?" he asked skeptically.

"More of a journal." she explained. "When I get bored or can't sleep I write about the different kinds. Odd, but I do it."

"Go home, look, if you find anything at all, let me know." he said, getting to his feet.

"I will." she said, giving him a comforting hug. "Don't be too hard on them." she said. "They're just as freaked out by this." she reminded him.

"I know." he said softly.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." she said as she headed to the door.

"Please, hurry." he responded as he watched her go.

He picked up the coat again, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and headed back downstairs.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack woke up trembling from cold. He tried looking around, but it was useless. It was pitch black. He literally couldn't see his hand in front of his face. He called out, but the only response of any kind he heard was his own voice echoing. He sat up and groped the ground and the walls around him. Cold stone. His mind reeled back to the sewers, to the sound of the void swirling before him, to the feeling of being helplessly sucked into the hole as he watched the people he cared most for standing there, not able to help.

Ianto. Ianto's eyes were glued to him, tears ready to fall. He wanted more than anything at this moment to be back in Cardiff, joking around with the others, having his private moments with Ianto.

What the hell was that thing? Where was he? He was tempted to try to look around, but thought the better of it. He remembered that as he fell, his arms flailed and he only just caught what seemed to be a ledge, and with what he felt was his last ounce of strength, dragged himself up to sit where he was at that moment. No, just sit tight and hope to hell the team figured out a way to get to him. How long that would take, he had no idea, but he felt confident in the others. They wouldn't let him down. Especially not his Ianto.

* * *

Three days. Three long days and still no way of knowing where he was, or how to get to him, to help him if they did actually find him. Ianto was going mad. He had no idea what to do. He had been hell to be around the last few days, he knew that, but he couldn't help it. He was desperate.

"He's really trying my patience." Owen grumbled as he punched the keys on his keyboard for what seemed to be millionth time.

"He's scared." Faith said as she flipped through yet another book.

"We all are." he argued. "But you don't see any of us going around making everyone even more miserable."

"Are you in love with Jack?" she asked as she looked up from her book.

"I like the bloke, but not that much." he sneered. "You should know that." he added with a smile.

"Ianto is." she went on, ignoring the smile. "Think back to when you lost someone you really, truly loved. How did you feel?"

Owen didn't answer. He didn't have to either. His silence told Faith that she'd gotten her point across.

"I'm so tired." she said, moving her books to the side.

"Go get some sleep then." Owen said. "Tosh and Gwen should be in soon for their shifts. We'll call you if we find anything."

"I think I might." she yawned as she got to her feet and stretched her arms over her head. "You should get some rest too." she said before heading off to the office where Ianto had shut himself up, piles of books, files and videos scattered around the room.

"I can't find any description that matches that thing." he said as Faith came in and quietly shut the door behind her. "Jack's notes are useless. He just scribbles little things here and there. More than one mention of that doctor of his." he added as he shut a file and tossed it aside, moving to the next.

"Ianto, you need to get some sleep." Faith said, taking the file from him. "Its not going to do you any good to sit here for days on end."

"When we have him back here, safe and sound, I'll sleep as much as you like." he replied, taking back teh folder. "Go home if you want, I can't sleep."

She watched him for a few moments and knew that arguing would be a waste of time and breath. Sighing, she got to her feet and headed out past Gwen and Tosh who were just coming in for their personal round of files, books, and numerous searches for anything that matched the alien that had caused the void to open.

"Good luck." she said as she walked out.

She walked along and couldn't help it when her mind went back over the things she'd read and listened to over the last few days. She stopped when she remembered something Ianto had mentioned. Jack's notes mentioned the Doctor. If she could find him, he might be able to help. She started walking again, trying to think of how to go about looking for the elusive man. She knew he came to Cardiff now and then to refuel his ship, but she didn't know when.

She hadn't told the others, but she could tell when there was some sort of rift activity. But, there was a lot of that in Cardiff, and to go about chasing each and every one, she would never stop moving. She needed to figure out when the Doctor might next be there. Jack's notes. She was going to need them. With a sigh, she headed back to the hub, hoping she might be able to get those notes out of their without Ianto asking too many questions. She didn't want to get his hopes up if she wasn't actually able to track the Doctor down.

She was really wishing she could make herself invisible still. But, that went when they rigged that pendant for her, and if her choices were being able to go unseen for a bit, or having her head explode, she was willing to make some concessions. She walked in as quietly as she could and couldn't believe her luck when she went in and found that everyone was in the kitchen, including Ianto. A miracle, she thought.

"Too easy." she whispered as she made her way up to the office and stuffed the folders into her purse. She had been worried that Ianto would miss them, but judging by the piles, he wouldn't be missing them for quite a while yet. She waited until the others had their backs turned, and silently slipped out again.

"Okay, Doctor, where will you appear next?" she said as she opened the first folder and read it as she walked along to her car.

She got home and buried her face in the folders. By four in the morning, she had some ideas. By six, she knew where he would be. It was nearly time, she thought, he should be here soon.

Glancing at the clock, she found it hard to believe that she'd been up that long. Shoving the things to the side of her bed, she got a couple of hours rest before heading off where she guessed the Doctor would be landing.

Faith sat on the park bench, watching and listening, as the rain came down on her umbrella. She glanced at her watch and realized she needed to be at the hub soon.

"Where are you?" she muttered as she looked around. Her cellphone went off, and she glanced down and groaned when she saw Ianto's name across the display. "Hello." she said.

"Where are you?" he asked. "We've found some more books, and in a few hours, we're heading back down to the sewers..."

"I'll call you back." Faith said, hanging up before Ianto had a chance to react. She heard something. A distant whirring noise. She smiled to herself. Just as Jack described in his notes.

She got to her feet and followed the noise to a clearing behind a building. She wanted to jump for joy when she felt the energy of the rift reacting to the Tardis. She stopped and watched as a blue phone box appeared before her. A dark haired man stepped out and looked around. It's him! she thought. She'd found him and it wasn't even that hard. That worried her a bit. Ignoring that little voice that warned that this had been to easy, she stepped forward.

"Doctor?" she said.

"Do I know you?" he asked, staring at her as though trying to place her.

"No, but we have a friend in common." she replied. "Jack needs your help."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks to the reviewers and those who have added to alerts and faves. As always, reviews are a much appreciated thing! Thanks for reading!**

"So, what kind of trouble has Jack gotten into this time?" the Doctor asked as he stepped into the Tardis after Faith.

"He didn't so much get himself into trouble." she answered as she looked around. "Much bigger than it looks from the outside." she added.

"Get that a lot." he smiled as he took a seat. "You were saying."

"Apparently Jack and the others followed some alien down into the sewers and a void opened up, and he was sucked in." she explained to the best of her ability. "If you want a more detailed account, you'll have to talk to Ianto, Tosh, Owen or Gwen."

"Do you know what this alien looked like?" he asked as he got to his feet and began to move around.

"Ianto said it was tall, had large teeth, blue blood..."

"Oh those pesky royals. The Queen needs to keep an eye on them." he joked. "Sorry, go on." he added when he saw the unamused look on Faith's face.

"Silver scale like skin." she finished.

"I see, I see." he nodded. "Yeah, definitely."

"You know what it is?" she asked. "You know how to get Jack back?"

"No." he shook his head. "I'd need to take a look around where it happened, get some readings. You know, the usual."

"Well then, to the hub it is." Faith said as she headed for the door.

"How did you know where to find me?" he asked as he grabbed his coat and followed the dark haired woman. "How did you even know about me?"

"Jack took a lot of notes." she said as she led him to her car. "I found any sort of pattern I could, then I just used my keen sixth sense." she added as she unlocked the doors.

"Sixth sense?" he asked as he got in, staring at the large dice hanging from the mirror.

"I'd rather not go into that at the moment." she said as she put the car in gear and headed off. "I'm not really looking forward to explaining it to the others."

"You're quite puzzling, Faith Madden." he said as he watched her driving.

"You think I am, wait til you meet the others." she laughed.

* * *

"She's here!" Owen called out to Ianto who was standing in Jack's office yet again.

"Finally." Ianto said as he came down the stairs. "Don't just hang up on people like that." he said as he walked to the door to meet her. "Scare someone to death, we've already got Jack missing..." his sentence ended as he caught site of an unknown man standing behind Faith.

"Who's this?" Gwen asked as she came to stand next to Ianto.

"Why in the hell are you bringing him down into the hub?" Owen asked.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet the Doctor." Faith said quickly, hoping to get the introduction over with as quickly as possible.

She knew that all of them had taken a disliking to the Doctor after Jack had taken off. None of them knew why it was the Doctor they didn't like, or trust really. Perhaps it was because he wasn't around and it was so difficult to stay mad at Jack for very long. Damn his charm.

"Jack's doctor?" Gwen asked as she looked the strange man over.

"Not technically." the Doctor said. "I'm not his GP or anything."

"He's the one who Jack left us all for, without a word?" Tosh asked.

"Yes." Faith nodded. "I think he can help find Jack." she added quickly as Ianto began to argue. "You want to find him, if he can help, then let him."

"You don't need to beg them to allow me to help." the Doctor said as he moved past the group and began looking around the hub. "A lot different from the last Torchwood I saw."

"Do you really think you can help?" Owen asked.

"His help can't hurt." Faith said, looking to Ianto who stared at the Doctor, mistrust and jealousy obvious.

"Alien, sewers, void, and a great sucking effect and now Jack is not here." the Doctor said as he turned around to look at the group. "Jack does like to make an exit."

"I need to talk to you now, Faith." Ianto said as he grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her into Jack's office. "Where the hell did you dig him up from?" he asked as he shut the door. "And why did you?"

"We're not getting anywhere." she said. "I looked over Jack's notes and I tried to figure out when he might pop up here in Cardiff, and I was right."

"We don't need him." Ianto argued. "We're making progress."

"Don't be an ass, Ianto." she said. "You don't want to accept his help because you're jealous, and I can understand that."

"Jealous?" Ianto scoffed.

"You and Jack seemed to be moving forward, and then he was just gone, without a word, to track down this man." she said, "You're jealous of that, and trust me, I know jealousy."

"What makes you think he can help?" he asked after a moments silence, not even arguing her accusation of jealousy anymore.

"Jack talks a lot about him in some of his notes." she answered. "He keeps going on about how brilliant he is, I thought it maybe worth a try."

"I suppose you're right." he agreed, though it nearly killed him to do so on this occasion.

There was a knock at the door, and the Doctor popped his head and smiled at the pair.

"Do you think you could take me down to the sewers where this void opened?" he asked.

"It hasn't opened back up." Ianto replied.

"Not yet." he said. "Until it does, we get some readings from the area, see if they lead us anywhere."

"Readings?" Ianto asked.

"Yes." he nodded. "Can we go?"

"Yes." Faith said, jabbing Ianto in the ribs.

"I hope you're right about this." Ianto whispered as he headed for the door. "I'll bring the SUV around."

"No fuzzy dice I hope." the Doctor said as he followed Ianto downstairs.

"What's wrong with my dice?" Faith asked.

"What you don't know won't hurt you." he answered. "Shouldn't." he corrected. "Though I've seen some instances.." he let his sentence fade away and simply shook his head slowly as he and the others went up to the street to wait for Ianto.


	4. Chapter 4

"So this is where Jack vanished, eh?" the Doctor said as they slowly and carefully made their way down into the sewers.

"Charming little place, isn't it?" Owen remarked as he stepped over a large glob of, well he didn't know what, and he didn't really want to.

"I've seen worse." the Doctor replied as they neared the area.

"Did you bring any tools?" Gwen asked as the strange man approached the wall where the void opened.

"Just one." he said, "The only one I need." he added as he pulled an odd looking contraption out of his jacket.

"What is that?" Ianto asked as he peered over his shoulder.

"Sonic screwdriver." he said as the object started to whir.

"A screwdriver." Ianto repeated, glancing back at Faith who simply shrugged.

"Sonic." the doctor added with a smile.

"He's going to find Jack with the help of a 'sonic' screwdriver?" Owen whispered to Faith as they stood by, watching the Doctor run the screwdriver over the wall.

"I guess so." she said, trying not to sound too confused by this method.

"How'd you know where he was going to be?" he asked.

"I read some of Jack's files." she answered, staring straight ahead.

"And he gave the exact time and date of when the funny little man with the screwdriver would appear?" he pressed.

"No, I had to do some guessing." she answered as she wandered off a ways and leaned against the wall.

"Guessing?" Owen asked as he followed. "That's it?"

"Do you suspect me of evil doings, Owen?" she asked, turning to look at him.

"Jack seemed to have a hard time in tracking him down, that's all." he replied. "But, of course, Jack isn't, well, special, like you."

"Oh, how sweet." Faith remarked. "You're going to make me blush."

"Okay, done here." the Doctor suddnely said as he replaced the screwdriver.

"That's it?" Ianto asked, looking back and forth between the wall and the man.

"Yup." he nodded. "Are we ready?" he asked as he headed back the way they'd come.

"You've got to be kidding me." Owen said as they followed. "All this, so he could run a silly screwdriver over the bloody wall?"

"I really do hope that he's going to do more." Ianto said.

"I'm sure he has something planned." Faith said nervously. To be the one to bring this man among their ranks, simply to have him wave a screwdriver around and give no help, it would take Faith a bit of doing to get back in their good graces.

"Well?" Gwen asked as the group climbed back into the SUV.

"I can open it." the Doctor said as he adjusted his seat belt.

"Why didn't you then?" Ianto asked.

"Can't do it with you lot about." he answered.

"Why?" Owen asked.

"Do you have any idea what that void will do to human DNA?" he asked.

"What will it have done to Jack's?" Ianto asked.

"Well, Jack's not strictly human." he said. "Not since...Never mind."

"So, who's going to be able to get him?" Gwen asked. "If it's going to screw up our DNA."

"Well, I'm not strictly human, either." the Doctor replied. "But, I'd prefer to keep an eye on what's going on up here, on this side."

"Then we're short a mutant." Owen grumbled.

"I'm not human." Faith reminded them. "I could..."

"No." Ianto answered before she finish. "Out of the question."

"What do you mean you're not human?" the Doctor asked. "Is that what you meant when you mentioned your sixth sense earlier?"

"Sixth sense?" Gwen asked. "What sixth sense?"

"Can we talk about this back at the hub?" Faith asked as she fidgeted in her seat.

"We will talk about it though." Ianto said as he started the SUV and threw it in gear, speeding back to the hub.

The group walked down into the hub quietly, the only real sound being the doctor mumbling to himself. Faith lagged behind the others, not wanting them to question her too much. She owed them answers, that was true, but she wasn't eager to give them.

"So, this sixth sense." the Doctor said as he took a seat next to Faith. "And I'm dying to know, how is it you're not human?"

"I'm an alien." she sighed. "I came here a while ago, Ianto and Jack, the others as well helped me."

"An alien." he said with a childlike glee. "Where are you from? No, no, wait, let me guess."

Faith sat silent for a moment while the Doctor ran through a few names, none of which belonged to her, although, she knew all of them. Finally she shook her head and held her hand up to silence him.

"I'm a Parasitian." she said quietly.

"Ooh, really?" he whispered. "I thought they'd all been wiped out." he stopped when he saw the look of pain that crossed her face. "I guess not though." he cleared his throat. "I met a few in my day. Good race, for the most part."

"You think so?" she asked.

"Yeah." he nodded. "A few went bad, but that happens with any race. Look at humans." he said.

"You don't think we were a bunch of parasites that needed to be wiped from existance?"

"Parasite, yes, to a degree." he said. "But, who isn't?"

"Humans are, aren't they?" she said, realizing it for the first time.

"Yeah." he said. "Humans are always looking for someone to make them happy, for a quick emotional high of some sort. They just don't see it that way."

"I wish the people who killed my family had thought that way."

"Your family, your race, was erased by the..." he thought a moment. "The Galdagans. Right?" he nodded along with Faith, who said nothing. "They didn't have much room to talk."

"Speaking of talking." Ianto's voice interrupted. "You have a way to get Jack out of there?"

"I have a few things on the Tardis that could help." the Doctor nodded. "But, we've still to decide who'll go down after him."

"If you need to stay up here and monitor things," Faith said. "Tosh is a tech genius, I know Ianto, but so is he. I'm the only other who can cross into that void." she added as Ianto started to argue.

"Ah, so the lovely Tosh will be assisting me, eh?" the Doctor said. "Well, I'll run and have a chat with her shall I, give you two a chance to talk things out." he got to his feet. "Don't take too long though, Jack can't wait forever."

"I'm going down, Ianto." Faith said.

"There has to be another way." he sighed.

"There isn't." she said, getting to her feet as well. "Look, all of you will be up here, nothing will go wrong on this end. And, I'm sure everything will be fine at mine."

"What if neither of you come back?" Ianto asked, expressing his worst fears.

"We will." she said with a nervous smile. "Jack is like the Energizer Bunny, right?"

"Are you?" Ianto asked.

"We'll see." she shrugged. "I hope so."

"You have to." he said as he pulled her into a hug. "Can't lose either of you."

**A/N: I don't know any good alien names, so parasitians and galdagans are just the first things that popped into my head...Sorry it took so long for the update on this one. Thanks again for the R&R's!!**


	5. Chapter 5

"Is Faith really going to do this?" Tosh asked as the team sat around the table, waiting for the Doctor to return with his "goodies" as he deemed them.

"If we want to get Jack back here, she has to." Gwen said quietly.

"This guy knows what he's doing, right?" Owen asked, looking to Ianto who seemed to have made himself the team leader in Jack's absence.

"Jack had faith in him." Ianto muttered. "We should trust in him, right?"

"That doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence." Owen grumbled.

"Where is Faith?" Gwen asked as she noticed for the first time in about an hour that the third woman was not there.

"She went for a walk." Tosh replied. "She's a bit nervous."

"Wonder why." Owen said.

"If worst comes to worst, the Doctor can figure out a way to get two people back from there, I hope." Gwen said, everyone stopping to stare at her for a moment.

"Nice cheery thinking there, Gwen." Owen sighed.

"It might not be a very happy thought, but we should think of anything that could go wrong." she argued. "Worst case scenario, both Jack and Faith would be stuck there..."

"Worst case is that we actually lose one or both of them." Ianto interrupted.

* * *

"Not looking forward to your little trip?" the Doctor asked as he came to stand next to Faith as she looked out over the water.

"Not so much, no." she replied quietly. "I've gone through so much to be here, I don't want to have to leave."

"If all goes well, you won't have to." he said as he patted her on the shoulder. "But, then again, no one is making you do this."

"Jack has done a lot for me, so has Ianto." she said as she turned and faced away from the water. "I owe it to them. All of them."

"If anything goes wrong, there are going to be some very unhappy people." the Doctor said as he continued to stare out onto the water.

"If Jack stays there, the same thing will be true." she shrugged. "Ianto would be devistated...."

"So, you're doing this for him." he said with a smile.

"He was the first human I trusted, he was good to me even though I was going to use him." Faith explained as she looked at the ground, tears welling up as she spoke. "He lied to the others to protect me, he's done so much." she sniffled and wiped her eyes. "I owe him so much. Because of him I know what its like to feel human and to be able to live as one."

"A little part of you still feels out of place though." the Doctor said as he looked back at her. "No matter how long you stay here, or what you look like, you know you're not one of them."

"We should get back." Faith said as she started back, not acknowledging the man's last comment, knowing too well it was true.

"Of course." he muttered as he followed behind.

"I'm sure nothing will go wrong." Tosh said as Faith and the Doctor walked in. "He seems to know what he's doing."

"And Tosh will be up here helping him." Gwen added.

"Are we almost ready?" Faith interrupted.

"Almost." Tosh nodded. "Just need to add a few more details into my computer."

"Shouldn't take too long." the Doctor said as he walked around to stand next to Tosh, plugging some odd looking devices that no one felt the need to ask what they were.

"So, we should head out then?" Gwen asked.

"You can." the Doctor nodded. "We'll have this up and going by the time you get down to the spot."

Faith took a deep breath as the others gathered their things. She looked at Tosh, knowing this could very well be the last time she would see her. She had the sudden urge to tell them she wasn't going to do this after all and just run from the hub, but she knew she could not do that to them. They missed and needed Jack. She had made a promise, and she would keep it.

"Are you ready?" a soft voice broke into her manic thoughts.

"Sure." she nodded slowly as she turned to see Ianto standing next to her. "Jack will come home." she assured him with a smile she hoped looked stronger than it felt.

"I've got a little bracelet for you." the Doctor said as he slid a silver band around Faith's wrist. "Jack's DNA is programmed into this, so it will automatically locate him." he explained. "If anything at all goes wrong before you reach him, tell the others and get out of there."

"Mmmhmm." she nodded.

"Is that all?" Gwen asked as she adjusted the strap of the bag she was carrying.

"Yeah, should be." the Doctor nodded. "Good luck." he said before turning back to the computers.

* * *

The group slowly and quietly made their way along the sewers until they reached their destination. The drive over had been painfully quiet and awkward, no one knowing what exactly to say.

"Here we are." Owen said to Tosh and the Doctor at the other end of the comms.

"Okay, give me a minute, and I'll get that portal opened up." the Doctor replied. "Get that harness put on Faith and be ready to go."

Faith removed her jacket and rolled up her sleeves as Ianto pulled out the small harness the Doctor had given them. It looked small and weak, but he had assured them all that it would hold through anything. Experience, that was his answer when Owen asked how he knew.

"You're trembling." Gwen said as she helped secure the harness.

"Wouldn't you be?" Faith replied as the knot in her stomach grew with each cinching of the harness.

"You don't have to do this." Ianto whispered. "We can find another way."

"And how long will that take?" she asked. "We need to get him out of there now."

The group turned when they heard a whirring noise behind them and saw the portal slowly open just as Owen was securing the other end of the harness to one of the support beams in the sewer.

"Gwen, Ianto, get over here." he called.

"Be careful." Gwen said as she gave Faith's arm a quick squeeze and went to join Owen.

"First sign of any trouble." Ianto reminded her.

"I know." she said as she shoved him towards the other two. With a quick nod to Owen, Faith turned and let herself be pulled into the void. "Please let me come back." she whispered as she felt herself falling.


	6. Chapter 6

Faith felt herself falling through the dark air. She could see nothing around her, the only sound was the air rushing past her and the bracelet the Doctor had placed on her wrist beeping away. She looked down and saw green and red lights shining from her wrist. This must be how she would know when she found Jack, she thought. Indeed it was she realised when the bracelet starting sounding like mad.

"Jack!" she called out into the pitch black.

"Hello?" Jack's voice floated to her.

Faith gasped in surprise as she suddenly stopped falling. She groped around in the dark and found that she seemed to be floating. Stay calm, she told herself. She continued to feel around and her fingertips just brushed something solid. She gripped the edge of whatever it was as best she could and pulled herself over.

"Faith?" Jack called as he grabbed around and caught a hold of her wrist.

"Oh thank God I found you." Faith said as she allowed him to drag her over to the small ledge where he sat, and had been sitting for what seemed to be months to him.

"How did you find me?" he asked, trying to make out anything in the dark.

"The Doctor." she said as she sat, trying to catch her breath.

"The Doctor?" he asked. "How did you....."

"I found him." she answered.

"How?" he asked, staring at her, or at least he thought he was staring in her general direction.

"I'll explain later." she said. "Ianto, I've got him." she said into the comms piece they'd given her, hoping they were right and that it would actually work.

Jack and Faith sat in silence for a few moments, both worried that the others couldn't make out anything that she said.

"I had no way of getting a hold of anyone...." Jack said, breaking the nervous silence.

"You've got him?" Ianto's voice crackled in Faith's ear.

"Yes." she said, too relieved for words.

"They heard you?" Jack asked excitedly. "Oh, I was beginning to think I'd be stuck in this pit forever." he said as he leaned back against a wall of some sort.

"I think there might be some sort of delay." Faith explained. "Have you seen the alien that you were after that day?" she asked not wanting more silence.

"No." he shook his head. "I haven't seen anything, or anyone, until now." he laughed. "Of course, I still can't see you."

"Oh well, you know what I look like." she replied with a nervous laugh of her own.

"In that bag you took down with you, there's another harness." Owen's voice broke in. "Get Jack into that, hook it to your own and we can bring you both back up." he instructed.

"Should be interesting in the dark." Faith murmured as she carefully pulled the bag in front of her and opened it up. "How good are you in the dark?" she asked as she pulled out what seemed to be the harness.

"I've had enough time to adjust." he answered as he took the offered harness. "Not like its the first time I've pulled something on in the dark."

"He's putting it on right now." Faith laughed.

Jack struggled with the harness for a few minutes, trying to adjust those straps in the dark was no easy task, and he didn't know exactly how much room he had to maneuver with Faith sitting there so he had to be careful. With a few final expitives, he announced he was finished.

"Shall we hook up?" he asked.

"I was afraid you'd think of that one." Faith groaned as she carefully got to her feet and felt around her waist for the hook that was needed to link the two together. "I thought I'd get down here and find you depressed and sad." she said as they waited for the other's next instructions.

"I was, but now that I have a little friend here with me, I feel so much better."

"And you know you have Ianto waiting for you back up there." she added for him.

"That too." he nodded with a smile to himself.

"Okay, hold on, we're gonna start to bring you back up." Owen's voice cut in. "Tell me when you're ready."

Jack felt around until he was sure he was standing behind Faith and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "I have a better grip than you." he explained.

"You'd damn well better." she said as she gave Owen the all clear.

"Hold on." Gwen said a few minutes later.

"I really hate that delay." Jack said as he tightened his grip on the woman in front of him. "Makes me think we've lost 'em."

His fears proved to be unfounded as the felt themselves jerk upwards suddenly. Jack felt relief flood his body, he couldn't wait to give each of his team members a huge hug and kiss, some more than others.

"Going home." he muttered as they continued their ascent.

They hung in silence as they made their way ever closer to the opening into the sewers. A faint light shone in, barely penetrating the pitch black. They were mere inches from the opening and Jack adjusted one of his arms around Faith and stretched out the other in an attempt to grab ahold of the ledge waiting just above his head. Just as his fingers brushed the ground of the sewers, a rush of air passed the suspended pair and they were flung sideways.

"What was that?" Jack hissed as he crashed into something.

"I think something is trying to keep us down here." Faith replied as their unseen assailant rushed past again, slamming them into another wall. "Ianto, Owen pull faster!" she screamed as the thing made a third rush past them, apparently swinging its claws as it did so. Faith hissed in pain as she felt something tear into her arm and blood started to ooze out.

"Get us out now!" Jack screamed as loud as he could as something clamped onto his leg.

Faith let out another scream of pain as the unseen attacker lashed out again, catching her in the stomach, severing part of the harness causing her to drop down sharply.

"Hang on!" Jack yelled.

"I'm trying." she said, trying to hold back tears of fear and pain.

They felt themselves be pulled up just a little bit higher, and just as suddenly felt themselves drop again as their attacker slashed the cord that was being used to pull them to safety. Flinging his hand out as far as he could, Jack just barely managed to grab hold of the ledge.

Gwen saw a hand come through the portal and nudged Owen who left Ianto to hold onto the rope as he and Gwen tried to pull Jack up.

"Hold on, Jack!" Gwen said as she braced herself and started pulling.

"You've got four more of those things racing up on you." the Doctor's voice broke in excitedly.

"Hurry!" Ianto screamed as he tried his best to hold onto the rope.

"We're trying!" Owen screamed back as he pulled just a bit more of Jack's arm through the hole.

"I'm losing Faith." Jack told them as the woman started to slide more as the harness started to give way. "Damn it!"

"What?" Gwen asked as she tried frantically to bring the pair up over the edge.

"There's more of them." he answered as two more things flew up, slamming them once more into the unseen wall.

Faith could feel the rush of air as more and more of their unseen foes came flying up around them. Jack's grip was getting weak and she could tell that the others were having trouble getting them up over the ledge. She closed her eyes and gasped as she felt another sharp claw cut across her stomach and the harness snap altogether, sending down away from Jack and the others.

"No!" Jack screamed as he caught a hold of Faith's wrist before she fell too far.

"What in the hell is happening?" Ianto asked as he quickly tied the rope off to one of the support beams and rushed over to help Owen and Gwen pull Jack up.

"Faith's about to fall." Jack called out as he felt the woman be tugged down.

"Let go!" Faith yelled as she tried to kick one of the things off her leg as it tried to pull her down.

With the effort of three people, they were finally able to pull half of Jack's body up to the sewer as he clung to Faith. Owen and Ianto got on each side and grabbed an arm and pulled as hard as they could while Jack tried to use the invisible wall to help pull him up.

"I'm losing her." he groaned as his foot slipped and Faith's grip became weaker as one of the beasts threw itself into the dangling pair, knocking the wind out of the severely injured Faith. Finally, Jack was able to get the lower half of his body up and quickly turned to bring her over the edge with him.

"What's going on?" Tosh asked, fear building as she could only hear bits and pieces.

"Hang on!" Ianto called as Jack reached back into the hole with both arms trying to secure a good grip.

"I can't hold on much longer." Faith cried as she was slammed into the wall once again.

"Hold on!" he repeated.

"I can't." she yelled as another blow made her lose her grip and she began to fall away into the pitch black.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Final chapter for Into the Void. Thanks again to everyone who added this to their alerts, or simply kept up with it. And a really big thanks to those who took the time to review it, I do love getting reviews.**

* * *

They let out a scream as Jack lost his grip on Faith's hand and they could hear a faint scream escape her lips. Jack leaned out into the void a bit more to try to catch sight of her, but it was too late.

"Where is she?" Ianto yelled as he tried to join Jack only to be stopped by Owen and Gwen pulling him back.

"You can't go out there." Gwen said as she fell back onto the floor, a struggling Ianto on top of her. "You heard what the Doctor said."

"That rope is still secure, right?" Jack asked as he got to his feet and quickly tightened his harness.

"It is." Owen nodded.

"I'm going to see if I can find her." Jack said as he stepped back and prepared to jump through the portal again.

As he stepped back, he took a deep breath, shot one more look at his sprawled team and made a jump for the hole, only to be thrown back towards the others. It had felt like he'd jumped into a concrete wall, yet the portal was still open, though it was slowly closing.

"Jack?" Gwen asked in shock.

He ran to the wall again and tried once more to jump through, only to be knocked back again as the portal sped up and was gone. The four numbly got to their feet and cautiously approached the wall. It was normal again. Just a slab of concrete.

"Doctor!?" Jack said as he grabbed Gwen's comm. "Open that thing back up." he ordered.

"I can't." he answered after a few minute's silence.

"What do you mean you can't?" Jack asked as he looked around at the others.

"I mean that I can't." he repeated. "You should get back here so we can look you over."

"We can't just leave Faith." Ianto argued.

"You can't do anything with the portal closed either." the Doctor countered. "Get back here, Jack can be gone over and we can try to figure out what's going on."

The three stared at the wall for a moment before deciding there was nothing more to be done at the moment, so reluctantly, they gathered their things and headed back to the hub.

* * *

"What have you come up with?" Owen asked as he took his seat at the long table.

"Nothing yet." the Doctor replied as he scratched his head for the hundredth time, trying to figure out why he could not manipulate the portal just once more. "How's Jack?" he asked as he punched the keys on the computer again.

"Nothing seems to be wrong." Owen answered. "Well, other than the obvious."

"I'm working on it." the Doctor growled as he slammed his hands on the table in frustration. "Why won't it let me open it again?" he hissed.

"We have no way of knowing if Faith is still alive, do we?" Gwen asked as she came in with the others. "What if...."

"That bracelet keeps track of her vitals." the Doctor explained. "So far, she's still alive, but she's weak."

"Can you get anything off her necklace?" Jack asked Tosh.

"I tried." she shook her head. "Nothing at all."

"We designed that to keep track of her in Cardiff." Owen pointed out. "Silly us, we didn't take into account her being sucked into some bloody void."

"Oh no." the Doctor groaned.

"What?" Ianto asked. "Oh no what?"

"They've sealed off that portal." he answered. "We can't access it from the sewers again, at least not in that spot."

"Then where?" Tosh asked.

"I don't know." he said. "I'm tracking any possible locations."

They sat in silence as the Doctor tried again and again to track down the right portal. It seemed like forever, and everyone was growing more and more restless as time wore on. The entire group jumped in surprise when Gwen's phone went off, and she apologized as she picked up when she saw Rhys' name on the display.

"I'll be right back." she said as she left the room.

"I don't know what species we're dealing with, but they're good." the Doctor said a couple of minutes later.

"Matter of opinion." Owen said.

"They're opening and closing portals all over the place, two, three at a time, but none are anywhere near eachother." he went on, ignoring Owen's input. "And none for more than a few seconds at a time."

"Can we find some sort of pattern?" Tosh asked as she came to stand behind the Doctor and looked at the screen. "If we can find some sort of pattern, maybe we could wait for them to open it again." she suggested.

"It's worth a try." he nodded. "It'll take a bit to find any sort of pattern."

"Just do it." Jack said as he placed an arm around Ianto's shoulders.

"We're not going to get to her in time." Ianto whispered, watching Tosh and the Doctor work at their computers.

"Yes, we will." Jack said firmly. In truth, he didn't believe those words anymore than Ianto did, but he felt as though one of them had be think positive.

"Find anything?" Gwen asked as she came back in holding three large plastic bags.

"They're trying to find some patterns with a whack-a-mole type thing in the portals." Owen answered as he stared at the bags. "What's that?"

"Dinner." she said as she set the bags down. "If anyone's hungry."

"You're fast." he said as he peaked in each bag.

"Rhys dropped it by." she said. "I called him a bit ago, he thought we might get hungry, so he stopped by a fish and chips place."

"I'm not hungry." Ianto said when Gwen offered him a piece of fish. "No thanks."

"It'll take a bit more to figure out any real pattern, so you should eat up now." the Doctor said as he sat back and watched his computer work.

"Doesn't seem quite right to sit around eating when we don't know where she is, or if she's okay, does it?" Tosh said as she stared at the food she held in her hand.

"None of you will do her any good if you're weak when we go to get her out of there." the Doctor said as he grabbed a few chips and began to munch on them. "Eat." he prompted.

Slowly, they did as he told. All except Ianto who just stared at the screens. He hated waiting. He hated not knowing where his friend was, if she was alright. First he'd had to go through the hell when Jack went missing, and now Faith. It was enough to drive a person mad.

"What's that?" he asked as one of the small dots on the screen started glowing red.

"We've got a pattern." Tosh said with a smile as she checked her screen and saw two more light up.

"Three places." the Doctor said. "And only two of us who can actually get through the portals without coming with an extra head or anything."

"Pick the best two, and we'll go there." Jack said as he wiped his hands.

"There isn't a 'best two', Jack." the Doctor explained. "There's a best three, but to narrow it down anymore...."

"Unfortunately, we're short a non-human." Owen said.

"Then we have to decide which two to head to." the Doctor said staring at the screen. "Okay, this one, and......this one." he added as he wrote down coordinates.

"What if we're wrong?" Tosh asked. "What if it's the third."

"We've got more than a fifty percent chance." he shrugged. "And we need to move fast, her vitals are getting weaker."

"And we don't know where that portal leads." Jack added.

* * *

Ianto dropped the Doctor, Tosh and Owen off at the first site and headed off with Jack and Gwen to the second. He gripped the wheel tightly as he drove along, his skin going white at the knuckles. They would find her, they would get her out. If neither of these locations worked out, there was still a chance they could get her at the third.

"It'll be okay." Jack said softly as they pulled up to the second location.

"Yeah, yeah." he nodded as he opened his door and headed for the old hospital.

"As if it weren't nerve-wracking enough." Gwen remarked. "It has to be an abandoned hospital?"

"Adds atmosphere." Jack said to her as Ianto walked ahead of them, looking down at the GPS screen he held in his hand.

"We're in place here." Owen's voice came over the comms.

"We're almost there." Jack replied as they made their way up to the top floor of the dark, old building.

"This should be it." Ianto said as he stared from the GPS to the blank wall in front of him.

"Harness." Jack said as he held out his hand and waited for Gwen to give it to him.

"Ready?" Owen asked again a few minutes later.

"Just securing the safety ropes." Gwen answered as she tightened the rope on last time. "Okay."

"Should only be a few minutes more." the Doctor's voice crackled.

Each group stood staring at the walls in front of them. This has to work, the Doctor thought. Looking at her vitals, if the portal didn't open and they weren't able to get to her, he knew she couldn't last until they got to the third.

"How is she?" Tosh asked nervously.

"Honestly?" he asked, receiving nods from both Tosh and Owen, he answered. "Not good."

"How much longer does she have?" Owen asked.

"Her heart rate is slowing quickly, blood pressure is dropping like a rock." he answered after taking his earpiece out, not wanting Ianto to hear what he was saying.

"She's going to die?" Tosh asked.

"If we don't get her out now," he nodded. "She doesn't have a chance. She took quite a beating on the way up last time."

"Anything on your end?" Jack called out.

"Not yet." Owen answered as he stared at the others.

They waited nervously for the portals to open. The Doctor was about to ask Jack again if anything was happening when he heard a loud beeping emitting from the small computer he held in his hand.

"What is that?" Owen asked as the beeping became rather frantic.

"It's her vitals." the Doctor answered. "She's crashing."

"What?" Jack asked.

"She's crash...." the Doctor tried to repeat before being cut off by one loud beep, and then silence.

"Doctor?" Jack called.

"She's gone." the Doctor said as the portal opened before him. "I'm sorry."

Tosh leaned back against the opposite wall and began to cry. Her good friend was gone. Owen moved over to her and placed an arm around her shaking shoulders as he stared at the Doctor in numb disbelief.

"What do you mean she's gone?" Ianto asked.

"She has no vital signs." the Doctor said softly. "She's dead."

* * *

Jack walked into his office, Ianto right behind him. The younger man had not said a word since they left the hospital. He just sat there in stony silence as Jack drove them back to the hub. Sitting down at his desk while Ianto sank into the couch, he ran his hands through his hair and layed his head down on the desk as Ianto began to cry. The others stood at the door to the office, each crying, but no one saying a word. He lifted his head and looked at the others, then to Ianto who now had Tosh sitting next to him, giving him a shoulder to cry on. Looking back down, feeling like a failure for not being able to stop this from happening, he saw an evelope on his deks with Faith's handwriting.

"What's this?" he asked as he held it up.

"I don't know." Gwen shook her head.

The Doctor took the envelope and opened it. A DVD was all that he found inside. "Put it in your computer."

Jack popped open the disk drive and set the disk in it, hesitating a moment before pushing the tray back in. A few clicks and Faith's face suddenly appeared.

_"Well, if you're seeing this, I'm not around anymore. Either that or I was too slow or too forgetful to grab this off Jack's desk. If that's the case, stop watching now, give me back the DVD and pretend you never saw it. If it's not, which I really hope it is, even if I do look like an idiot, I'm gone. I just wanted to thank all of you for what you've done for me. Ianto, you made so many sacrifices, and I never found a way to truly pay you back. Jack, take care of him. Tosh, you were a great friend, and I wish you the best. Owen, we had our ups and downs, but you really are a teddy-bear deep down. Gwen, once again, ups and downs, but, you've grown a lot in my estimation. Take care of Rhys, he's a good guy and you're lucky to have him. I can't go on too much more, otherwise I'll be in tears, and you won't be able to understand anything I say, and this will have been a waste of time. I just wanted to say "Thank you" and lastly, "Good Bye". Okay then.....how do you turn this thing off? Damn humans and your technology....."_

The last thing they saw was a close up of Faith's necklace and dark hair as she fought with the camera to get it to shut off. Jack shut the screen down and looked around at the others. They all stood around him staring at the screen.

"Can I have that?" Ianto asked as he held his hand out. Jack nodded and handed him the disk. With a sad smile, Ianto nodded and left the office.


End file.
